Leonid Bershidsky said that is rubbish and in the past Apple was always giving insights on new products besides stiff competition.
He pointed out how Apple reported the sales of the first iPhone, 270,000 units, in its filing for the quarter ending on June 30, 2007, even though the phone went on sale on June 29.
At the time the iPhone had strong competition and could have used the same stealth tactic, hiding iPhone sales in the "other" category.
Bershidsky thinks Apple decided to hide these numbers because it is afraid of falling short of expectations.
"In Jobs's day, the company only needed to beat the competition and satisfy customers. Today, given the expectations, Cook knows he can never do enough," he writes.
He thinks that iPhone will be Apple's flagship device for a long time.
"Apple, for all its power and seeming diversity, depends on the iPhone for 63.2 per cent of its sales, up from 52.8 per cent a year ago. It's not exactly a one-hit wonder, but it would be a much smaller company if its flagship started going down."